Two hundred years passed, then three hundred years.
Pelexis' mind was strong, but this situation seemed hopeless.

Pelexis had to fight back insanity, as it constantly tugged at his mind.
His mind was the only thing left working, and it was slowly slipping away.

Horror had given in to shock, shock gave in to boredom.
Boredom turned slowly to despair, then mental surrender.

At the outset, Pelexis had felt the crystal soften slightly and closed his eyes.
There was more to be seen within his mind's eye, than that stark landscape.

His memories played over and over within his mind, and the loneliness was unbearable.

Seasons changed, years passed, and Pelexis' eyes remained forced shut.
If his eyes would have remained open, the sun would have blazed directly into them
now and then, and surely blinded him.

Had he been able to see though, he would have seen the crystals move,
imperceptably slow.

Time meant nothing to these living diamonds.
Their lives had very little meaning, nor stimuli.

Until Pelexis arrived.

They had absorbed Pelexis, and were drawing in his thoughts.
He was their only source of sensory input, and could have lasted almost infinitely.
So, of course they had no desire to ever let him go.

The Gardeners kept track of the life forms in the Universe.
Even the living crystals on this planet.
As they made a scan of this sector of the Universe, a different life form showed up.

They recognized the life sign patterns of Pelexis,
and arrived to see what had happened.

They saw that Pelexis was in a bit of a jam, and decided to assist.

They knew he was on a mission to save all of the other Avatarians,
and seemed to have encountered somewhat of a delay on the crystal planet.

The Gardeners could communicate with the crystal life forms, but it took a long time.
Thoughts moved so slowly for these beings, discussions were intolerably slow.

The Gardeners' ship left this world and went on it's way, to return at a later time.
After months of discussion, cajoling and even threats,
the crystals finally agreed to release Pelexis from their glassy grip.

This was was a difficult task though, because Pelexis had leaned on the crystal,
it had softened, and he fell into it.
The crystal did not have to move to trap Pelexis.

Pelexis was unable to move, so the crystal would have to move to release him
(reluctantly).

The crystal slowly sank into the ground and leaned back.
This process took months, but the Gardeners waited.

As the crystal softened it's hold on Pelexis,
sinking into the ground, and continuing to lean further back,
the Gardeners decided to add some extra assist.

The Gardeners pushed and kicked and tried to move the crystal faster.
They could tell the crystals were reluctant to release Pelexis,
and continued to share his thoughts and memories the entire time.

Pelexis was feeling the changes in the crystal around him.
For the first time in almost four hundred years of no physical changes around him,
Pelexis was feeling movement.
He was pulling his thoughts together, trying to discern what was happening.

He then felt the presence of the Gardeners Of The Universe.
Their thoughts reached into the crystal and asked him for his patience.

The Gardeners realized he still had his sanity (and a sense of humor)
when he questioned them as to what choice he had.

As Pelexis felt the crystal move away from him, he felt the outside air.
He still had no idea what temperature it was, only that he could breathe again!
He still couldn't move any part of his body, after remaining in that position for so long.

The Gardeners touched him and allowed their energy to flow into Pelexis' body.
Pelexis felt the ability to move, slowly returning.

Pelexis moved with extreme pain, up onto one knee.
He was relieved beyond words and thoughts though.

He had given up ever escaping the crystal a long time ago,
and his gratitude for the Gardeners was immeasurable.

The Gardeners informed Pelexis that the crystal life forms
had almost no stimuli in their lives.
They were almost void of any feelings or emotions.

The Gardeners asked Pelexis to try to find some forgiveness in his heart for their actions.
As Pelexis pondered these thoughts, he noticed all of the crystals
(except the one he was trapped in) were leaning in towards him.

The Gardeners conveyed to Pelexis,
that even though the crystal beings had caused him much pain, loneliness and suffering,
they were grateful for the thoughts he had shared with them.

His thoughts and memories had added much to the quality of their lives,
and his entire past would now be a part of their lives, forever.

Pelexis eased his ship off of the planet's surface
and made ready to leave this barren planet.

He saw the Gardeners' ship up above him, returning to pick up his rescuers.

Pelexis realized that he had remained on this planet for so long,
because he had no choice in the matter.

The Gardeners had remained here for months voluntarily.
They had remained to help him, and add back his life.
They sacrificed their time to improve his life.

He had sacrificed a a great deal of his time
to improve the crystal being's lives (albeit unwillingly).

Since he had eventually been freed from the crystal life forms,
he considered his long time there, and saw some sort of balance.

Pelexis would find forgiveness for these crystal beings,
but he certainly did NOT recommend this planets to his fellow Avatarians.

As Pelexis guided his ship into yet another space distortion river,
he realized that a great deal of time had passed since he left Avataris.

He had lost several hundred years from his use of the space distortion rivers,
which allowed him to cover vast distances quickly, but also altered time significantly.

Pelexis made a mental note of the time that had elapsed,
from his fellow Avatarian's perspective,
and realized they had only 300 years left to remain on Avataris.

Pelexis had found a number of good habitable planets
and a couple of bad ones as well.

Pelexis would continue to explore, but knew his time was running short.
He would continue to search and send back data until time ran out for Avataris.
Pelexis resigned himself to much more loneliness,
and saw no sure way to ever find his way back to his family.

If there was ever a moment of self-pity, Pelexis just considered that
anywhere was better than being trapped inside that crystal.

The Tigerman Saga Show DVDs
View the Tigerman Saga from DVDs,
You may download samples from the internet.
The Tigerman Saga Show is narrated by the author,
has awesome background music, and cool special effects sounds.